First in the Justice Way series. Middle brother Ryder. A nice story of an arranged marriage in order to inherit. The hero was running from a tragedy in his life and agrees to marry the heroine, an heiress. He is nice to her and stands up for her which is a nice thing to see. Well written as are all Sala's stories. I did notice though that I've seen her use a bad guy almost exactly like this in a later book. ( )

Typical early Sharon Sala fare. ( )

I thought this was a rather slight book when I first read it, and I got rid of it. Recently, years later, I was finding myself remembering the story regularly and wanting to read it again - finally found it, thanks to Name That Book and the Romance: From Historical to Contemporary groups on LT. I pretty much remembered the story, though I got some of the details wrong, but I very much enjoyed the re-read. This is one that sneaks under your skin.
The story is reasonably standard - girl has to marry to inherit, refuses the planned husband and goes out and finds someone to be her husband for a year. He takes it because he doesn't really care (or thinks he doesn't) what happens to him - nursing a great guilt (his father died and he lived through a plane crash when he was flying the plane). She starts seeing her life through his eyes, and not liking quite a bit of it - makes some changes, to do with her half-siblings and her own skills. She did flat-out lie at the beginning - 'I'll cook your meals. Clean your house. I'll even share your bed.', then 'There won't be any [sex].' 'I've never washed dishes.' 'I don't know how to cook...'. Ah well.
A panic attack over flying (turns out, with reason); an ill-advised investigation; an enemy; a kidnapping; and eventually a rescue make the last half of the book rather frantic, after the first part of establishing characters and positions. It's a fun read, and I'll probably re-read it. ( )